Monthly Archives: December 2014

A 14-year old Coda girl was arrested for drawinggrafitti on a pro-democracy wall, as part ofyouth protest demonstrations. For that reason,the Hong Kong police is asking the court to haveher removed from the deaf father’s custody.Yes, the father is very upset about it.

— Titanic’s deaf connection

For years we have been fascinated by the Titanicship tragedy in 1912. This new ship sank on itsfirst trip when it hit the iceberg, causingmany deaths. Was there a deaf connection? Well,one of these passengers was William Stead, notdeaf and a well known British writer. Beforethe tragedy, he traveled to Russia and metAnastasia Romanovna, a deaf member of theRussian royal family. They both liked eachother and promised to stay in touch. Anastastiathen realized he was one of passengers that died.She was heartbroken and it stayed with her untilher death!

— a Wells Fargo deaf commercial as the year’s best

Jose Costa, not deaf, is a marketer, and wrote anewspaper article selecting the best commercials in2014. He selected the commercial that showed adeaf woman Sarah Churman as a deaf customer in aWells Fargo bank.

The Tribe, a film by a group of deaf Ukrainianproducers, has been considered one of the bestfilms by The Palm Springs International Film Festival.This film is unique, not because of the deafnesstheme but because the deaf plot shows no subtitles,no voice dialogue, no nothing! It won praises everywhere.

— year 2014’s unluckiest deaf person

who is the Year 2014’s unluckiest deaf person?It is Derrick Coleman, a member of the SeattleSeahawks NFL team that will be playing in theplayoffs. Derrick was hurt and declared out ofseason. He was not hurt playing football butbroke a bone in his foot – during the pre-gamewarm ups! A freak injury? Yes.

— a prison school for deaf children?

There was a short newspaper story about a newcorrectional school for deaf children inGrozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic.It is in Russia. Deaf children attendingclasses in prison? In English language,correctional means jail or prison. Seemsthat in translation from either the Russianlanguage or the Chechen language the word– school – meant the same as – correctional.Whew!

Wolfville, Nova Scotia is a small town of just4,000 people. Luke Sanford, who is deaf, isthe town’s #1 vendor, selling bags of popcornswhile operating his own Kernel Sanford business.What is amazing about him is not that he is deaf,but also uses a wheel chair. Yet he is able toget around to sell popcorns out of his kiosk.He’s quite popular among the town residents.

— a deaf dancer that nearly 18,000 fans watch

The Brooklyn Nets play at the Barclays Center.This popular pro basketball team has a dancinggroup called Brooklyn Nets Kids, which performdance routines to entertain the fans. One of thedancers is Vako Gvelesiani. He is deaf. How hardis it to make the dancing group? Every year 500dancers, ages 9 to 14, tryout and only 15 makes it.This is Vako’s second year with the dancing group.He hopes for a professional dancing career afterhigh school.

— A fake-deaf picture among 2014 Top 10 Fake Pictures

A web site listed the Top 10 Wrong and FakePictures for the year of 2014. One such fakepicture was a Deaf Picture, sort of! Cuba’slong time dictator Fidel Castro wears ahearing aid, but does not want people toknow it. His picture was photoshopped toremove the hearing aid from his ear. Sharpeyes said it was a fake picture!

The Southwest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf has been aroundsince the early eighties in Big Spring, Texas. It is a vocationallyoriented two year collegiate program for deaf. While it is part ofthe Howard College, it has a campus of its own. It is next to theFederal Correctional Institution, which houses 2,000 prisoners. Therazor wire fence separates SWCID from the prison. It is not knownif the SWCID administration is worried about possible prison escapes!The world’s most notorious hacker is one of the prisoners.

— deaf club membership dues

Membership dues at hearing clubs can be real expensive – somewherebetween $250.00 and $1,000 and even higher. The Pittsburgh Associationof the Deaf, one of the nation’s most respected deaf clubs, recentlyposted a list of its revised membership dues. To make it short, foractive members it is $45.00 per year. It is a huge bargain as comparedto other hearing clubs and hearing societies. Yet, it is sad thatsome deaf people feel that $45.00 is VERY expensive! These samedeaf people don’t complain that Starbucks can be more expensive.

— a surprise deaf animal learns sign language

We have known that deaf dogs can learn sign language. Also thesame thing with chimps. But what about other animals? Deafhorses have been trained to follow hand gestures. Possible toteach a deaf cat some sign language. A man said he did, andhas produced a video to prove it. This is interesting becausecats are known for their short attention spans.

DeafDigest editor is spending this week vacationing in Manhattan,at a hotel near the Central Park. This world-famous park has deafconnections. Deaf filmmaker Ernest Marshall made a couple of films,with the Central Park as the location, always keeping an eye out forpolice officers! He was filming without the necessary city permits.And there was a foreign film theater across the street, showing allthese movie subtitles. And then there was Fredrick Law Olmsted. Whowas he? He designed the Central Park – and also – the GallaudetUniversity! Anyway, back to Marshall, a brief bio of him and hiswork at the Central Park is at:

Kevin Voelker is a deaf chef that teaches future deaf chefs atthe Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. How did he learn thesecooking skills? He mostly learned on his own – learning fromfamily members, learning from other chefs at differentrestaurants, watching the Food Network shows, reading thesecookbooks and practicing at different kitchens. These chefstold him – you do not need ears to cook, must have goodeyes and good taste! Who knows – we may find future deafchefs at restaurants across the state of Florida.

— a long wait for a deaf organization

A deaf organization wanted to apply for IRS 501(c)3 tax exampt statusso it could serve its mission of helping the deaf of other nations.How long did that organization wait before IRS finally gave it thetax exempt status? Almost three years! The IRS will not always actfast.

There is a big mess at a school for the deaf. But is notwhat you may think – students and teachers both get alongvery well. Students are well behaved and listen carefullyin the classroom. The mess is from outside – young hearingmen, bored with nothing to do, smoke marijuana, near theschool property. They bother the deaf students andthe teachers are not able to do anything about it.It is taking place at the Adjei State School for the Deafin Ghana! We are grateful this is not happening in USA.

— sign language or computer technology

The CME Group (Chicago Mercantile Exchange & Chicago Boardof Trade) is like a stock market, dealing with oil, cattle,crops, coffee beans, etc). Brokers shout out their orders.For many years they used a special sign language to communicatewith each other (numbers, months and letters). The CME hadhoped to eliminate sign language with computers. That was about20-25 years ago. Sign language still won! One CME broker said“technology cannot replace sign language!”

— farewell to a special friend in Hollywood

Joseph Sargent, probably the best friend in Hollywoodamong the deaf actors, passed away. While he was notdeaf, he did much for the deaf. He co-founded the DeafWest Theater. He directed the movie “Love is neverSilent” which is considered to be the best deaf movieever. And not afraid of controversy, he directedthe movie – Sweet Nothing in My Ear, which starredMarlee Matlin. It was about a deaf couple havinga hard time deciding about giving their deaf son a CI or not.DeafDigest wishes there were more Joseph Sargentsin Hollywood.

Electric Mirror? It is a special mirror, in bathrooms of somehotels, that show TV programs with a remote control, whilethe person is using the bathroom. It is not deaf-friendly!Why? Because of no captions. The “mirror” is less than13 inches, not having to obey the FCC 13-inches or more rulefor TV captions!

— a deaf person’s dream engineering job

The Marshall Space Flight Center, part of the hugeNASA complex in Huntsville, Alabama, has severalthousand engineers. DeafDigest knows of twodeaf engineers in the past. There is a thirddeaf engineer currently employed – VictoriaGarcia. She was recently featured in Cosmo’s “GetThat Life,” a magazine about successful women.She has been employed since 2008.

— some talk about next Gallaudet president

There have been talk among some groups on who thenext Gallaudet president should be. Should the candidatehave a doctorate? Or should the candidate have alaw degree, as more and more universities are hiringpresidents with these law degrees? Or should acandidate have a proven fund raising success? This isimportant because Gallaudet has lost a friend inHarkin, who is retiring and has always been supportiveof Gallaudet’s funding needs.

For many years, Deaf Santas have entertained deaf childrenat shopping malls. But in Huntington, West Virginia, thereis a twist. The Deaf Santa has been accompanied by a DeafMrs. Santa Claus, who is Deaf-Blind!

— a taxi that is anti-deaf

New York City is coming up with “Taxi of Tomorrow” which isthese new taxi cabs. Many people hate it. The taxi industryofficials have filed a lawsuit to stop it. Automobilemanufacturers have opposed it because the city selectedNissan as the official New York taxi cab. And deaf andhard of hearing leaders have opposed it! Why? Two reasons.the audio system in the taxi is very bad and hard ofhearing people will struggle with it. And for the deaf,no way to reach these taxi for ride reservations. Standingon the street to hail the cab is not always easy.

— another big irony with ASL

DeafDigest has mentioned several times re the Coolidgecoin irony with its U-S-A fingerspelling, because GraceCoolidge taught at a school that did not allow signlanguage. And there is another irony! The NationalGeographic Society was led by Alexander Graham Bell,and the various members of the Grosvenor family. Theyopposed the use of sign language. Yet the January 2015edition of the National Geographic magazine featured twosign language illustrations!

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